Egypt pro-democracy alliance decries al-Sisi's candidacy

Leaders of the pro-democracy National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy has denounced a candidacy by former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to run for president

CAIRO – Leaders of the pro-democracy National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy has denounced a candidacy by former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to run for president, saying the move reflects that the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi was a "military coup".

"This shows the world that what happened on July 3 was a military coup," Alaa Abul-Nasr, a senior leader of the Construction and Development Party, the political army of Egypt's Gamaa Islamiya, told Anadolu Agency over the phone on Wednesday.

Al-Sisi, who is seen as the chief architect of Morsi's ouster last summer, resigned on Wednesday and unveiled his intention to run in Egypt's upcoming presidential election.

"Al-Sisi's resignation will not exonerate him from blame for the bloodshed he caused or stop the relatives of the victims from demanding justice," Abul-Nasr said.

Hundreds of pro-Morsi demonstrators were killed when their protest camps were violently dispersed by security forces in Cairo mid-August.

Abul-Nasr argued that supporters of Morsi's ouster should learn that they were defending a "fascist military coup that killed thousands of people and now seeks to take power".

For his part, Emam Youssef, a senior member of the Salafist Asala Party, said al-Sisi's presidential candidacy is part of a wider plan for "usurping" the constitutional legitimacy.

"This included the ouster of the elected president, dissolving the elected parliament and killing and detaining thousands of people," Youssef told AA.